Guest DWA Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Little off topic but when did Catamount become a word for Sasquatch. I grew up hearing it as another word for Cougar, Mountain lion, Puma that sort of thing. Seen that term used for Sasquatch a few times on the forums now. Anyone using "catamount" for sasquatch is misusing it. You are correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Coonbo Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) DWA, You've got to realize that neither the word "Sasquatch" nor the word "Bigfoot" had ever been heard in Alabama in 1958. The first widely used word we ever heard to describe the creature we now know as Bigfoot was "yeti", in around 1968 on a National Geographic special feature. It wasn't until very late 60's or early 70's that the words Bigfoot or Sasquatch were ever heard in the Deep South. There were, and still are, myriads of words used to describe them, and "catamount" is one of the more common ones where I'm from, so you can NOT say that the word was being misused. I asked my Grandfather what a catamount was. He thought for a bit and answered that he really didn't know, but it was sort of a cross between a monkey and a bear, but no tail. Think about it. That's a pretty good description of a bigfoot for someone with no other point of reference. I asked my Dad the same thing and he also said it was sorta a cross between a monkey and a bear, with maybe some panther, because it can climb so well. Another pretty good description from someone with no other frame of reference. Edited January 12, 2015 by Coonbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DWA Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Well, the "no other frame of reference" is my clue to incorrect usage. People seeing something they have no frame of reference for do that. "Catamount" is a term specifically and demonstrably applied to one species...except by people who were seeing something for which they had no frame of reference. Calling a duckbilled platypus a duck would be incorrect, regardless its signaling that I have no frame of reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIB Posted January 12, 2015 Moderator Share Posted January 12, 2015 FWIW, in my part of the Pacific NW back in the 60s-70s-80s, "catamount" wasn't a term heard very often but when it was, it was a very clear reference to a cougar, Felis concolor. Mostly people said cougar or mountain lion. Once in a while someone would say puma. MIB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunflower Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 The "catamount" my little brother saw that night was at least 8 feet tall. It had eyes as big as golf balls, were six inches apart on its face, and were amber colored. The hair was light brown or tan and when the flashlight shined the "catamount" it turned and went thru the scrub oak sounding like a dump truck. Lots of other strange and weird stuff for years before and after sighting. I was very busy in those days and rarely stayed outside in the middle of the night. My brothers, however worked outside fixing their cars since the barn was off limits for automotive purposes. My barn was set up for horses and cows. It was filled to the roof almost with hay except for the stalls. My little brother's girlfriend kept complaining about the noises from across the road while helping him fix his car one night. He told her "ah don't worry, it's just the breather" and she left and never came back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Three or four years ago, my middle brother was on the tractor, bush-hogging around the perimeter of the hay fields on the back of our farm at about 4:00pm. The field he was in is separated from the hay field to the west by a thick wooded hedgerow. As he came to a wide gap in the hedgerow at the NW corner of the field, he saw what he thought was our BIG Angus bull standing in the field to the west, facing away from him. He wondered what the bull was doing back there and turned into that field, presumably to herd him back to the pasture he was supposed to be in. As he approached on the tractor, the "bull" started to raise up in the front, and my brother thought he was mounting a cow. But he raised all the way up and turned to its right and my brother suddenly realized that he was looking at the Alpha of the BF troop that lives in the area of our farm. He gave my brother a quick side-ways glance and then casually walked off bipedally down into a wooded hollow to the north. He had been on all fours when my brother first saw him. This Alpha is a Type 1 and he is massive. About 10 ft tall, leaves 21 to 22 inch tracks on the exceedingly rare occasion that you can find one, and I think he could weigh 1000+ pounds. But I cannot imagine him running quadrupedally at the speeds that I've seen the Type 2's run, such as the sighting I reported above. Maybe the really big guys can do it too, I don't know, but it would sure be impressive to see. A couple of things about their quadrupedal travel that I'm positive about: When they assume the quadrupedal stance, their heels come up off the ground and only the balls and toes of their feet are on the ground. This could explain the purpose and use of the purported mid-tarsal break (or joint). Also, when in that stance, their knees are bent. They are NOT flat-footed and straight-legged when traveling quadrupedally. many thanks, I saw something similar during a nasty winter drive down a ravine , just massive, head turned away from my view and stationary.Thought at that instant it had to be a LARGE steer although it was too large even for that, pulled over, thing was gone, I returned in the summer to this spot it's is a swamp, no cows on steroids close by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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